200 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



from Alaska, having been bartered from one tribe of natives to 

 another till they came into the hands of Russian or Chinese fur 

 traders." (Sowerby, 1923, p. 170.) 



India. The Beaver may have occurred even in India, since, ac- 

 cording to Buffon, the religion of the Magi forbade them to kill 

 this animal (Blasius, 1857, p. 407) . 



Egypt. Since the species is supposed to be represented in the 

 Egyptian hieroglyphs, it may have occurred in Africa (Blasius, 

 1857, p. 407). 



Economics. "Had not the use of its hair in the manufacture of 

 hats been superseded by that of silk, there is little doubt that the 

 beaver, both in the Old World ^nd in America, would by this time 

 have been numbered among extinct animals. As it is, the creature 

 has but a hard time of it at best, for although there is no longer a 

 demand for its hair by the hat-manufacturer, yet beaver-fur is an 

 article highly valued by the furrier, and equally highly esteemed 

 by the fair sex." (Lydekker, 1903, p. 244.) 



Family CRICETIDAE: Hamsterlike Rodents 



While various authors are not in accord on the limits of this family, 

 it is probably safe to say that it consists of more than a hundred 

 genera and more than a thousand forms. Representatives occur over 

 the greater part of the world, and in general their numbers are legion. 

 However, 14 New World forms are included in the preceding volume 

 by Dr. Allen (1942) , and the 6 forms of the African genus Lophiomys 

 are discussed here. A recent authority (Ellerman, 1941) makes a 

 separate family (Lophiomyidae) of this genus. 



Genus Lophiomys Milne-Edwards: African Maned Rats 



The following remarks of the Committee of Experts (Hemming 

 et al, 1938, p. 13), while naming only a single species, may be 

 taken to apply to all known forms of this rare and peculiar genus: 



No species of rodent was included in either class of the Annex in the 

 Convention of 1933, presumably owing to the small size and insignificant 

 appearance of the majority of the species involved, and to the fact that they 

 do not fall into the category of game animals. We see no reason however 

 why a species of this Order should not be placed in the Annex if owing to 

 their rarity they are in danger of extinction. 



A species of this Order which we should like to see protected is the Crested 

 Bush Rat, Lophiomys imhausi Milne-Edwards, a very remarkable species 

 living at altitudes of between seven and nine thousand feet in the mountains 

 of Abyssinia and Kenya. This species which lives in pairs in dead trees and 

 similar cover is peculiarly liable to attack and its numbers are known to have 

 diminished considerably in recent years. 



We accordingly recommend that this species should be included in Class A 

 of the Annex which, owing to the fact that rodents are not game animals, 



